The Health Benefits Of Beer

Take heed all you beer lovers. It is now a proven fact that beer — yes, BEER — can provide the same health benefits as wine. No matter what type of ale you prefer, studies show that drinking beer in moderation (up to 2 drinks a day for us guys) can and will reduce your chances of strokes, as well as heart and vascular disease.

It's called the French Paradox — the link between the low rate of heart disease among the French and their fat-laden diet was a daily dosage of red wine. Well, there's no denying the results of that study. But what the public doesn't know is that the health value of beer has been known, documented and applied for centuries. But there are folks out there who don't want you to know about it (I wonder why).

wine vs. beer

According to Mr. Jim Anderson, wine connoisseur, "When you compare the raw ingredients that go into wine and beer, you'll find that wine, on one hand, is made purely from grapes, water and yeast. Grapes are a fine source of sugars, fiber and chromium, but few of those things survive the fermentation and filtering process. Yeast has loads of complex B vitamins, but again, they do not appear in the final product due to filtering."

Beer, on the other hand, is made from grains, water and yeast. Grains commonly used are barley and wheat (with cheaper, mass-produced beers relying on corn and rice), both of which are loaded with a variety of vitamins that survive the fermentation and filtering process. And the vitamin value of the yeast is conserved in the hundreds of unfiltered beers that are on the market — both on tap and in bottles.

interesting tidbits about beer

Tidbit #1 In November of 1999, The New England Journal of Medicine stated that light to moderate beer drinkers would decrease their chances of suffering a stroke by 20%. They also stated that those who drink one beer a day compared to those who drink one beer a week experience no difference in reducing stroke risks.